On the supply side, BuzzShed is a network of subscribers that sign up to watch online videos targeted at their likes and interests. In return, subscribers receive monetary rewards for each targeted video they watch. In the new market based model members set a minimum reward amount, so they are only notified of videos that both match their interests and have a reward amount above a certain value.
On the demand side, advertisers use BuzzShed to drive highly targeted traffic to online videos. In the new market based model the cost of each campaign is determined by the advertiser, who selects a maximum cost per view (CPV) when creating their customized audience.
As a consequence of recent BuzzShed subscriber growth outstripping the growth in new advertiser accounts, BuzzShed has experienced an oversupply of new members. Accordingly, existing BuzzShed advertisers are taking advantage of the new market based pricing to promote videos to large audiences at low cost – as little as $0.05 per view.
BuzzShed CEO Hayden Saunders anticipates prices to rise as advertisers catch on to the new pricing model and frequently targeted subscribers increase their minimum reward amount.
“In the 24 hours since we launched the new market based pricing we’ve more than doubled our previous record for the most number of new campaigns in a single day.”
“At this rate we expect members to raise their minimum reward amounts quickly, which will increase the cost to advertisers who don’t get in early,” he said.
However, for advertisers using online video to engage with customers that have niche interests or lifestyle habits, prices should remain low as these subscribers are not frequently targeted in mainstream promotions.
Even if the CPV does increase quickly, advertisers will still find BuzzShed is an effective platform for promoting online videos. Audiences are defined using over 60 demographic criteria so advertisers can target demographics with specific interests and lifestyle habits.
“With the new pricing system advertisers can use broad demographic criteria and a low CPV to gain large exposure, or define highly specific demographic criteria and a higher CPV for quality, highly targeted lead generation,”
Subscribers must opt-in to the service and answer a detailed questionnaire about their age, location, lifestyle, interests and purchasing habits. Alongside the ability to create direct marketing campaigns this ensures videos are of interest to the viewer.
Mostly from North America, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, subscribers use BuzzShed to engage with advertisers exploring alternatives to mass media promotion. Significantly, this is not a video host that competes with video giants like YouTube; the company simply distributes links to videos already online.
While other companies offer various aspects of its service - BuzzShed's advantage is its combined offering of permission marketing and direct marketing, and its unique pricing model.
Notably BuzzShed users can also use the site as a free interactive social bookmarking service for videos, providing the same functionality to promote user-contributed content as is available to promote advertisements.
